Traversing hoist



Sept. 14, 1926.

w. I... BURKS TRAVERSING HOIST Filed August 17 1923 2 Sheet s-Sheet 1Sept. 14 1926. 1,599,456 4 w. L. BURKS.

TRAVERSING H01 ST Filed-August 1'7, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept.14, 1926.

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RELLEIOINT, ween: v emm;

" leeeesei 'JIRAVERSINQ ome This inv e'jritibn ielams meme-sing testes,arid more articularly to sueha, hoist ,lIi

chine'fyetoneenclthefeofl .7

The invem' eehe i for, its qb eemee pir'oe diiction oi 2-. n vel systemof ee'ble' comeel for meperriage pi a1 t-mverein hoist. An-e othel'"b'je'ct is the pro'vifsiefi Qf' I'iie'ans feet automa' tieztllyc'ontroll-iiigtfie mdvlhet'its qf the carriage So that the dtfiger' of.ELCCILCIQI'I'ES due toflthe breaki'iig' Of c'abIe'sf 61 liiie's 1Sduced to a Another object. is therfovision of a.'.s1ac] line iii 'a1,firevei1siingi heist ,sy'stemhwhich is emplo ed to fl f the loadhel'difig mechz'ifii s ffi, and at fli same time take up sleek theekidding 1ine, so that a, drblpifig' off the lfqljdt is eesufed.

In traversing hoists in, general use, the

lead is; held suspended; by at pulling: back; of

the outhaul line. one. of the objected-t inventiofi is, t0 v rcome thi'necese ty fqr" holding beck u oe the ot theiil Hne; Th fsj F result'sreductibh of power e'xpfidedl and e substantial sawing iii opeeatihgC'Qtsl of the heist. v

Other objects and advantages of the.

ventin will hereinafter a pear. in the fol e lowing fies'efiptiofiendthe nogvel teeter-es;

thereof will be perti'c l'afly pointect out the eppendedeleims; Like 7reference cherecte 'zs ififliee-te}. I'Lke arts through the severalfigures ef the.

drawings, iii Whieh v V Figilre 1- is an} elevation (if a heistmg; tefniemploying the fejzihire's ofmy invenuen;

Figure 2 is an elevation. of the carrier'- spirit thereoffi The f rmillustrated and de-- scribed te bej as indicet'ive dilly.-

a erb's s'ee'tiefiel View thrdugli inventien mprises e we-e; (If

. BATENT Gems;

carriage upon its @36 5 :01? fcableweyfl their corijointuse; W ll begiven.

.Refefring to Figure, 1 me liumerar 1e 'foi" hoisting apparatus of thistype and it comp'tiees an engi'xiel em three' drums de signed for ontroljfthe myememsi ef the caflia e 11. The d'ium I2" c'ontr-bls thesklclding cable 13, the drum 1:; contnqls rig at the skidding end t thesystem While 19 represents the outhaul; rig. Bet -eehthe' rigs 18 3 nd19, there is suspended a trac 01 ceblewaly- 20. At the point 21 theskidding and sleek; cables are joined t'egethei These Cebes movtogether, alt'hdugh, ire-herein:

m et we 11 fie-spam m eeeh; other: e The geye'relcon olcable pass ovesuit-- ciated that wheii the skidding and sleek. cables are ivvpundupon. their dun-es endt the ofithaul ee-ble allowed 1:0 play Ofi' itsdrum, the"v carriagejwill be; moved toward; the skidding ig'. This; isusu'al'ly Wh-eii it "is lo'eded.

1 It will; else be a preciated that when" the out'hagul eebljeis woundepon its drum and Elie-skidding and slack cables permitteclt6" advii eedtoward the rig 1:9;

The carriage 11 comprises a hotising ofe twp side plates 2'2, eefljgoiecl to ether" by bolts, Thesebelts (ferryspeeingjsleeves, 0'11? bearingmemb rs, u onw ieh the sheevesiljrielq'secl n thG H O'U SIIIg revolve.The

nu'inei als 23," 28 indi'eatej the supperting heel? f0? the,ililffiag'e; these travel ttpoii' the c'scble 20..v ,Thepshe vgzeistdesignedfto' upportithe skiedingceble While me W j pairs of sheaves25, 25, 26, 26, constitute guides for the loaded end of the skiddingcable, which is in the form of a chain 27' creasing radius so that upona downward movement of the free end of the lever 34, this jaw will gripthe cable 20 with an increasing pressure.

Upon each side of the lever 34 there is formed a bearing lug 36 throughwhich the pin 35 is eccentrically passed. Upon these bearing lugs 36 aremounted connectors 37 extending'to the smaller jaw 32 and connectedthereto by means of the pin 38. This small jaw is pivoted upon the bolt39, and its gripping face is upon .an increasing radius from the pin 39rearwardly, so that upon a downward movement of the connectors 37 thisjaw will be brought into increased gripping friction with the cable 20.a

In order to normally exert a braking effect upon the carriage, I haveprovided an elastic tension device connected to the brake lever 31 at40. Thiselastic tension cevice comprises a rod 41 extending throughplates 42 and 43 and having the nut 44. On a pin 45 there is mounted ayoke 46, to which are pivoted the rods 47,. 47, which also pass throughthe plates 42 and 43. A coil spring 48 lies between the plates 42 and 43and tends,

to spread the plates apart. This spring de-' vice exerts a continuouspull upon the lever 31 tending to apply the brake. I

It will be appreciated that the spring device just described will applythe brake to the cable20 by exerting a downward pull upon the free endof the leve'r34, which will bring the jaws 32 and 33 in grippingrelation with the cable. But I have provided means for overcoming thenormal tendency to apply the brake by providing the lever 31 with thecurved free end 34, to which I have attached the end of the outhaulline, as shown at 49. This outhaul line is used primarily to producetravel of the carriage from the skidding rig to the outhaul rig, and

the normal pull upon the outhaul line in per forming this function willbe suficient to lift the free end of the lever 31 and place the springdevice under tension. It will be appreciated too that when the carriageis travelling in the opposite direction, the placing of the outhaul lineunder a slight tension will be sufficient to counteract the tension ofthe spring device and relieve the.

brake. In fact the usual sag in the outhaul line is generally suflicientto overcome the spring action. If however for any reason the outhaulline should break, the brake will be automatically applied, and thiswill be true whether the outhaul rig is higher or lower than theskidding rig. If the carriage is travelling toward the outhaul rig therewould be a tendency to release the brake by the traverse of the cablethrough it.. The tension of the spring device however is suflicient toexert a substantial braking efiect.

In order to provide a means for releasing the load under variousconditions of use of the carriage, I have provided within the carriagehousing a load holdirigdevice comprising a pair of gripping elements 50and 51 pivoted upon the bolts 52 and 53. Each gripping element is formedof two straps between the outer ends of which is mounted a roller, shownin dotted lines in Figure 2 at 54. These rollers engage the under faceof a chainlink carried by the endof the Between the straps of thegripping ele ment 50 is pivoted the toggle link 55 connecting with thetoggle lever 56 pivoted at 57 to the housing of the carriage. Theopposite end of the toggle lever 56 is connected to the bolt 59 of theelastic tension device.

This elastic tension device is similar to the one described inconnection with the brake and tends to keep the gripping elements incontact with the chain link. It comprises the central rod or bolt 59screwed through cap 60 and movable through the plate 61. There 1s a coilspring between the cap and plate tending to separate them. The end ofthis elastic tension device is mounted upon an extension 62 of thecarriage housing, which ex a pull upon the skidding line 13 will causeit to be brought up into the 'carriageuntil the block 28 rests betweenthe faces of the sheaves 26, 26, when the gripping elements 50, 51, willengage the sides of one chain link and the rollers 54, 54, the lower endof the link above. VVhile the tension device will tend to hold the partsinthis position, it is the angular position of the gripping elements andthe weight of the load which accomplishes this result. Inforde'r torelease he gripping elements, it is only necessary to exert a pull orjerk upon either end of the slack line while the other end is'beingheld. Such a pull or jerk will cause the sheave 30 to be lifted and witha the gn pin ueniena 50 and 51. The skidding line will then drop fromthe carriageunder the weight of'the load or of the chain 27, the slackthereofv being-taken up by theslack line.:

Itwill be appreciated that the slack line'is attached to the'skiddingline at a point sufficiently distant from the carriage to permit thechain end of the skidding line to reach I the ground before the knot 21reaches the carriage. Should it be desirable to release the load for anyreason, a pull upon the slack line will notonly cause the grippingelements 50. and 51 to be lifted and the chain end released but willalso take. the slack up in the skidding line, which is very desirable.Otherwise the weight of the slack in the skidding line mightoverloalance the weight of the chain end and prevent the successfuloperation of the hoist.

From the foregoing description, the construction and function of theindividual parts of my invention will be clear. There remains to be setforth the action of these parts conjointly. t t a In Figure 1 I haveshown the skidding machine lower than the outhaul rig. In this positionof the parts the movement of the carriage toward the skidding machine isunder the control of the outhaul line. If this line were to break andthere was nothing to prevent it, the carriage would run down thesupporting track'or cableway and wreck the skidding rig. lVith myinvention, upon a breaking of the outhaul line the brake elements 32 and33 are applied and bring the carriage to a stop. This re the carriagefrom running into the outhaul rig. In this case there would be nodangerof the outhaul line breaking after the load is suspended, but theskidding line would have the heavy strain and might break, when theouthaul rig would be wrecked. However, ifit broke between the carriageand the joint 21, the weight would be immediately transferred to theslack line, when the gripping elements would be jerked open and the loadallowed to drop. 7

If the skidding line should break at any other point, the carriage wouldmove toward the outhaul rig until the joint 21 came into contact withthe carriage, when again the slack. line would jerk the grippingelements apart, thereby; dropping the load and stop P g the carriage;

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tersPatent 1s:

1. In a traversin hoist comprising a sus pended track or cableway and atravelling carriage having a load locking mechanism thereon, comprisinga pair of interconnected gripping jaws, one of which carries a sheave,an outhaul line for securing movetosecure by Letr ment of the carriagein an outhaul direction, a

means carried by the carriage for locking the same to the cableway upona breaking of the outhaul line, a load lifting and skidding line formoving the carriage in the inhaul direction, a second cable secured tothe inhaul line and passing over the sheave on the locking jaw fornormally releasing the locking mechanism andfor taking up slack inthe'inhaul line, and for automatically releasing the load upon abreaking of the in-.

haul line. v

2. In a traversing holst comprising a suspended track or cableway and atravelling carriage embodying a load holding mechanism and an automaticbrake, an outhaul line for securing movement of the carriage in anouthaul direction and for maintaining saidbrake inactive, and a cablecontrol for' the movement of the carriage in the oppo-.

site direction comprising a combined load lifting andskidding line and aslackline associated therewith for releasing the load holding. mechanismand for taking up the sag in said lifting and skidding line."

3. In a traversing hoist comprising'a suspended track or cableway and atravelling carr1age,'a brake carried by SELld. ca rrlage and springpressed toward braking position, an outhaul line for'imparting movementto the carriage in the outhaul direction and for normally maintainingsaid brake inactive, a load holding mechanism within said carriagecomprising an inclined gripping element, a combined lifting andskiddingcable,'the end of Which is adapted to be engaged by said grippingelement, and a slack cable connected to said skidding cable and to saidgripping element and operable to take up the slack in said skiddingcable and.

to release said gripping element.

4- In a traversing hoist comprising a suspended track or cableway and atravelling carriage, a skidding cable movable through said carriage tolift the load, mechanism upon said carriage for locking said load inlifted position, and means for automatically releasing the load lockingmechanism upon a breaking ofsaid skidding cablep 5. In a traversinghoist comprising a suspended track' or cableway and a travellingcarriage, a skidding line for lifting aload to said carriage and formoving the car-

